The invention relates to a cocking device for a compressed air weapon employing pre-compressed air, wherein a cocking member acts on a compression piston via an articulated linkage, wherewith said cocking member is swingably mounted on a fixed pivot on the firing system of the weapon, and wherewith the mechanical lever advantage represented by the said linkage increases with increasing compression force of the piston.
In known compressed air weapon cocking devices of this type, one end of the cocking member is swingably mounted on the firing system of the weapon at a fixed pivot point. A connecting rod (piston rod) is swingably connected to the cocking member at an intermediate point of said cocking member. The other end of said rod is connected to the compression piston disposed in the compression cylinder. The cocking device can be improved by providing a slot in the cocking member in which slot the joint at the end of the connecting rod (piston rod) is slidably guided, whereby the mechanical lever advantage increases as the compression force increases. With this arrangement, when the end of the cocking stroke is approached the cocking member undergoing a given swing angle will produce a smaller excursion of the compression piston. This is advantageous.
However, it is disadvantageous to have the improvement provided by a mere slot in the cocking member, because of the undesirable friction. In addition, the known cocking devices occupy excessive space, and have levers which are too long to be accommodated in short compressed air weapons such as air pistols.